The clock is really ticking now. My checklist of things to do includes:
- Getting a new USB drive and wireless mouse for my laptop (done)
- Cancelling the newspaper (done)
- Changing the electric company service (APS) to autopay and equalized monthly billing (done)
- Having a long involved and probably painful discussion with my all-in-one telecoms provider (Qwest) to see what phone, Internet and satellite TV services I can get rid of
- Car insurance options (done)
- Car storage options -- currently I'm debating either (a) just parking it in a guest space at the townhouse complex here and removing insurance for a year, (b) taking advantage of a friend's offer to park it in other unused side of her 2-car garage, but leaving the insurance coverage so she can borrow it when needed. (in progress)
- Obtain shipping information for my belongings to KSA
- Re-instating my home warranty policy from Old Republic
- Developing a wish list of books and DVDs that friends may (or may not) want to send me off with (done)
- Deciding whether to go and have immunizations. This is not strictly necessary but I'm sure it's a good idea. It's another sizeable expense though.
and the biggie:
- arranging for my house rental
I'd just like to say that I'm totally jealous of the fact that you finally have your visa :P. Tho I have people in Aus and KSA working very hard to sort it all out for me so fingers crossed for the coming weeks.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the preparations. I haven't even really thought about all that kind of stuff yet. I imagine it'll be a hectic few weeks once I set a date and quit my job.
Wow, Stacy. For some reason I thought you were well ahead of me. I have to say that the Saudi Embassy and Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) in Washington both seemed to perk into action once they got all my paperwork. I actually received several phone calls and e-mails giving me status reports. My guess is that they are motivated to get things moved along at the point where they have documents in hand.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I used to be! For me it seems the embassy in Aus are ready to approve my visa application (and have been for quite some weeks now) but they dont seem to have a valid visa number. The university in KSA, on the other hand, have a visa number that they do believe is valid... and that appears to be the current stalemate in the situation.
ReplyDeleteSo I just get to wait around here until the embassy in Aus get the visa number they require. There's nothing I can really do to help the situation now. I guess its just not my time to go yet :).